Art of handling capsules for filling



April 24, 1928. 1,667,065

a. L. BROWN ART OF HANDLING CAPSULES FOR FILLING Filed April 1'7, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet l II4 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII mini April 24, 1928. 1,661,066

G. L. BROWN ART OF HANDLING CAPSULES FOR FILLING Filed April 17, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet '2 April24, 1928.

G. L. BROWN Lszoas ART OF HANDLING CAPSULES FOR FILLING Filed April 17. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet :3

95 ,Zip aumt 3140a to:

Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT 1 1,667,066 OFFICE.

GEORGE LANCE anown; or nun'rmcnon VAL EY, PE SYLVANIA,

ART or nANnm-n'e CAPSULES 10B FILLING.

hhpplicati onfiled April 17, 1926. semi so. 102,613.

This invention relatesto capsule and it has for its principal object the simple, effective, cleanly, economical and expeditious filling of capsules with medicine.

Other objects and advantages of my invention willbe set forth hereinafter as they will be more readily understood in. connection with the description ofthe invention.

How the foregoing together withts uch other objects and advantages as may herein-.

after appear or are incident tomyin'vention, are realized, is illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings wherein- I Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the device showing a portion ofa capsule ejecting mechanism in broken section; I V

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevation thru the table, theinovable' that the device in general; comprises a frame. or supporting structureA; a table B supported on the frame by means of the brackets 9;'a movable head C adapted to be moved up and down on the guides 10, which guides are secured to the frame A at their lower ends and braced at their upper ends by the member. 11; and a mechanism D for.

of certain parts of imparting movement to the head C, which mechanism is here shown as comprising a. forked lever 12 pivoted at 13 to the link 14. I The. movable head C isprovidedwith an upwardly extending rod 15 which passes thru an opening in the stop member 16. This stop member 16 'is engaged by the flanged member '17 of the head C asit'is moved upwardly thus limiting the movement of the head in this direction, and at the same time serving to give rigidity to the extend ing portion ofthe head. v j I Referring now totheconstruction of the table B it will be seen that it comprises a plate-like member- 18 having a plurality of holes or apertures 19 of a diameter to ac commodate the body portion 20 of the capsules 21, the thickness of the plate at that portion where the. holes are. located being diagrammatic views showing vain this instance somewhatgreater than the length of-acapsule body. The member 18 is provided with an, annular portion 22 to which issecured the plates'23 and 24 .Where-.

by a'chainber 25 is providedin the table B for thepurpose to be hereinafterfdescribeda Suitableears are provided on this table having apertures thru which the guides 10 pass,

whereby the'head O isaligned with :the table B, similar .ears' thru whichtheguides 10 pass of coursebeing. provided] on the head -.C. WVithin'the chamber 25 a'pin carrying member 26-is located having a shank 27 extending thru the plate .23, a shouldered portion bem'gfprovided on the shank 27 for limiting the downward movement of the member 26 influenced 'by the springs'28. It istobenoted that the member 26 has'secured thereto a plurality of pins 29 one fore'achcapsule' re ceiving aperture 19 and that-thesepins'are spaced on'centers corresponding to the centers of the ape'rtures18, the'dia'meter of the pins being smaller'than the diameter of the apertures so that an annular space is pro,- videdbetween the pins and the apertures. The member 26 with itspins 29 constitutes inefiect a movable bottom forthe apertures ,18 and it is to be observed'that the length ofthe pins and the location oftheshan'k shoulder, is such as will-cause the pinsto project somewhat into the, apertures when in theposition shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, when ya capsule body is in place in its aper-J ture the open edge thereof is flush with the tabile top, as clearly indicated in Figs. 2, 3 an 6.

i The construction of the head is very I similar to-thatof the table it'being pointed out however that the apertures 30 therein are of a diameter to'accommodate the. caps 311ofthe capsules 2 1 and that the pins32 are correspondingly of larger. diameter. The pin carrying member 32 located With-in the chamber 33 in this caseconstitutes in eifect a movable top for the apertures and isnormally held against the stops 34 under the influence ofthe spring 35,. I a

The upwardly extending rod 15 hereinbefore mentioned, in this instance is hollow and has extending thercthrough the rod 36;

reduced in diameter at 37 (see Fig-2), and

secured at this end to the. member 32. The upper end of the rod 36 extends beyond the hollow rod 15 and its associated arts and is provided with a knob 38 where y it may ill beoperated to move the pin'carrying mem;

0 with a pipe 42 having the branches 43 and 44 each'provided with a manually operable valve 45 and 46 respectively. A conduit 47 is led from the valve 45 to the pipe 48 which communicates with the chamber 25 of the table B and a conduit 49 is led from the valve 46 to the T 50 ot the hollow'rod 15 which hollow rod communicates with the chamber 33 of the head 0. Thus by operating the valves a vacuum may becreated or destroyed in the chambers for purposes now appearing. I

In the manufacture of capsule shells it is the usual procedure to assemble the capsules for delivery to the trade; therefore, in order to fill them with medicine it is necessary to disassemble, fill and reassemblethem; and how this is accomplished by the employment of my device will now be'described.

An empty assembled capsule is inserted in each of the plurality of apertures 19 in the table or support B with the body portion 20 thereof down, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 it being observed that the caps 31 rest on the table top. N ext the'head C is moved down wardly on the guides 10 until it abuts or substantially abuts the table B by means of the mechanism D whereupon the valves 45 and- 46 are opened creating a suction in the apertures 19 and 30 whichcauses the caps to become separated from the bodies, the caps being brought into abutment with the pins 32 of the member 32 which is in its normal position and the bodies being brought into abutment with the pins 29 of the member 26 which is also in its normal position. The head C is'then raised and the caps are carried therewith under influence of the suction. Fig. 6 clearly shows this position of the parts, the capsule bodies however having been filled with medicine in any'suitable manner; One'method of filling the bodies would be to place a, quantity of medicine, somewhat more than what is known to be the capacity of the plurality of capsules, on the table and to spread it over the surface until all of the bodies are filled and then to remove all surplus from the table top which surplus might be allowed to remain on the shelf E surrounding the table for subsequent use.

The next operation is to again bring the head C down, in this case bringing it in direct contact with the table B. The valve 45 may then be closed and the lever 39 operated to move the pin carrying plate 26 up member 32 downwardly causing the pins 32*"- to ejectthe filled capsules ing the operations.

It is to be understood that the capsules may be ejected in various other ways as for example bymeans of air pressure as shown in Fig. 1, the air'b'eing admitted to the cylinder 51 by means otl the valve controlled and completinlet; pipe 52 and acting, on the piston por tion 53 of the rod 86. Another method would be to connect the inlet pipe 52 directly to the chamber 33 and by opening the valves the capsules would be blown out.

In some instances it might be desirable to release the suction from'the caps in the last operation above mentioned so that the capsules would remain. in the table "from which they could be ejected in any suitable manner. f Y Y I claim 7 1. A capsule filling device comprising in combination, a holder for a. plurality of empty assembled capsules, suction means for separating the parts of the capsules, means for reassembling the capsules after: they have been filled, and means for ejecting the filled capsules. t

2. A capsule filling device comprising in combination, a holder" for a plurality of cap sule bodies, a holder for a plurality otcapsule caps, suction means associated with said holders for preventing displacement of the bodies and caps from'their respective holders, said holders being adapted to be brought together so that the bodies and caps are brought into alignment and means operable to assemble the bodies and caps after filling. 3. A capsule filling device comprising in combination, a holder for a plurality of capsule bodies, a holder for ,a plurality of capsule caps, suction means associated with said holders for preventing displacement of the bodies and caps from their respective holders, said holders being adapted to be brought together so that the bodies and caps are brought into alignmentfand means operable to assemble the bodies and caps after filling together withv means'for ejecting the filled assembled capsules. i

4. A capsule filling device comprising in combination a holder for aflplurality of empty capsules, a holder thereabove, said holders being adapted to be brought together, suction means associated with each of said holders operating to hold'one part of the capsules in one holder and the other part in the other holder when said holders are separated, and means for capping said capsules when the holders are brought together. p

5. A capsule filling device comprising a fixed support for a plurality of capsules, a

carrier movable to and away from said, sup

port, means adapted to hold the capsules to the support, suction means operating when the carrier is brought'to th'e support to hold one part of the capsules'tothe car-.. rier whereby said part is separated from the remaining part held in the support, said support and carrier when separated giving accessibility to the capsules for filling, and means for capping the capsules when the carrier is again brought to the support.

'6. A capsule filling device comprising a pair of suction heads each having a plurality of capsule receiving apertures, means for aligning the apertures in one head with pair of suction heads each havinga plural-J ity of capsule receiving apertures, means for aligning the apertures in one head with the apertures in the other head, suction means for holding one part of the capsules in the v apertures of one head and the other part in in the apertures of the other head said suction means being valve controlled whereby said means may be operated either to hold one part of the capsules to onehead and the the assembled capsules. 7

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto other, art to the other head or to hold assemb ed capsules to either head together with means for ejecting the capsules so held.

8. A capsule filling machine comprising in combination a plate having a pluralit of apertures for receiving empty 'assem led capsules; a second'plate having a plurality of apertures, said second plate being mounted withv respect to said first plate so that its apertures align with the apertures of the first plate; a movable member associated with each of said plates having a plurality of pins of less diameter than the diameter of the aforesaid apertures, constituting movable bottoms for said apertures; and means for creating a suction in the aforesaid'apertures whereby the parts of the capsule may be separated. I V

9. A capsule filling machine comprising in combinationa holder for a. plurality of" capsulev shells, a second holder for the caps of-said shells, said holders being adapted to be brought together, means associated with each of said holders whereby the parts ofthe shell may be separated, means ass'ociated with one of said holders for assemblin rthe shell after one part thereof has been lled,

and means for ejecting the filled assembled capsules. 7 I

'10. A- capsule filling device comprising a A pair of suction heads each having a plurality of capsule receiving apertures, said heads being so'mounted that the apertures in one align with the apertures in the other, suction means for-holding one part of the capsules 7 U A in the apertures of one head and the other part in the apertures of the other head, means associated with one head for assembling thecapsules after filling, and means associated with the other head for ejecting signed my name.

7 e. LANCE, B O N; 

